Melorie Serrano Masacupan, M.Ed

I started my career as a classroom teacher, believing that real systems change begins within the system itself. After earning my degree in English with minors in Secondary Education and Asian American Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I taught in schools where I saw how policy, culture, and care intertwine to shape what’s possible for students and teachers.

I went on to earn my M.A. in Urban Education at Loyola Marymount University, focusing on Educational Policy and Administration. My studies in legal advocacy, organizational leadership, and community engagement deepened my understanding of how systems leaders can balance equity, ethics, and operations to make meaningful change.

Over time, my path expanded beyond the classroom. I began consulting with education nonprofits, managing programs that equipped educators to lead for justice, and later led marketing and communications strategies that helped organizations tell their stories with greater clarity and impact.

Across every phase of my work, I’ve been drawn to the same purpose: connecting practice, policy, and public understanding so that those most impacted by education systems can have a say in how they evolve. As I supported leaders and organizations, I stayed grounded by continuing to tutor students— especially nonspeaking individuals with verbal apraxia who work tirelessly to communicate through letterboards. Their persistence and brilliance have profoundly shifted how I think about expression and human connection.

Today, as I train to become a Spelling to Communicate® (S2C®) practitioner, I see this as the most personal extension of what I’ve done thus far: helping people be heard, understood, and recognized as full participants in the conversations shaping our shared world.